Friend or Foe?

Although I don't actively encourage Indian Myna's to come to my garden, of course they arrive along with all the other birds at feed time. I have mixed feelings about them; apparently they are not very kind to our native birds, which is hearsay, as I have never actually seen them harm another bird whilst in my garden. On the other hand, they are living creatures, they need to eat, so who am I to shoo them away?

My resident magpie family seem to have formed very adverse feelings toward the Myna's lately. I've seen them being chased away by the maggies, and yesterday one of the adult magpies actually attacked a Myna....you should have heard the racket! So perhaps they are foe, after all.

Well, I prescribe to the theory of "Live and let live", so if they choose to eat a bit of left over mince, I will let them. I believe that all of the local birds natural instincts will see them sorted out, one way or another.

I have heard that Indian Myna's can be trained to speak, and this I have seen for myself! I came across a video on Facebook that someone had shared, so like them or not, have a look at this cute little Myna who has been trained to speak, and also make animal noises (other than tweeting!)